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Can We Heal?
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The old ones say that the women will lead the healing among the tribes. Inside them are the powers of love and strength given by the moon and the earth.
~ From “Sitting Bull”
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I think of women’s wisdom as being intuitive. It emanates out into the world in forms we call empathy, imagination, respect, sensitivity. It is an elemental force that is born in us, not manufactured or pushed forward by men or society or other women. It just belongs. And women house it.
Through Gayatri’s dissatisfaction with her constrained life, the book illustrates how societal norms, especially for women, can become invisible cages that suppress individuality and passion.
The relationships in the novel — between Myshkin and his mother, between Gayatri and her husband — show that love alone cannot sustain people when their desires and life paths diverge too greatly.
For Gayatri, painting is more than just a passion — it is a means of defying the expectations placed upon her. The novel suggests that artistic expression can be an act of resistance against societal constraints.
The novel’s title encapsulates its central theme: life is filled with paths not taken, choices not made, and alternate selves that exist only in our imagination. Recognizing these unlived lives…
